Whatever Sophie Elliott screamed at Clayton Weatherston just before he killed her, the words were very loud and her daughter sounded ''really frightened, scared'', the young woman's mother has told the High Court in Christchurch.
Defence counsel Judith Ablett-Kerr QC yesterday suggested what Lesley Elliott heard her daughter yell was ''f.....you Clayton'' then the other words Mrs Elliott detailed - either ''Stop it Clayton'' or ''Don't Clayton''.
Today Mrs Elliott told Crown counsel Marie Grills the word suggested by defence counsel was not one her daughter used very much.
If she said it ''I didn't hear it'', she said. She had remained in the kitchen as Sophie went back upstairs and ''within seconds, there was screaming''.
''The words were screamed very loudly - she sounded really frightened, scared and once she started screaming it was a pained scream,'' she told the court.
Weatherston (33) stabbed or cut Sophie Elliott, his 22-year-old ex-girlfriend 216 times during an attack in her bedroom on January 9 last year.
But he denies the charge of murdering Miss Elliott. He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and the defence argues that is what the charge should be, that Weatherston was provoked by the pain of the relationship to the extent he lost the power of control.
The trial before Justice Judith Potter is now in its third day.
In other answers to Mrs Grills today, Mrs Elliott agreed she knew Weatherston was very upset that Sophie might have interfered with his prospects of gaining a lecturing position in the economics department at the University of Otago because she had discussed their relationship with a senior staff member.
She could not be specific about how often Sophie said Weatherston had mentioned the matter to her, but it had been an issue at the time the relationship ended.
And Mrs Elliott said she believed that, to all intents and purposes the relationship was over when her daughter went to Australia in late November, 2007 but was aware there had been some subsequent contact.
And she also knew from Sophie that Weatherston was very concerned about comparisons between his sexual performances and that of Sophie's previous boyfriends.
From her understanding she believed it was Weatherston who had raised that issue, Mrs Elliott said.
